#like can someone invite me to a discord server where i don’t feel alienated and confused and out of the look | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mooglesorts · 3 years

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hmmm... does it sound like a bird secondary/bird model thing to be, for lack of a better word, territorial?

not necessarily in the sense of, like, getting defensive and driving people off (although if someone gets into My Territory who makes the space unpleasant for me in some way i’ll be distressed and irritated). more like... establishing a home base, i guess? and slowly expanding my comfort zone from there. people, communities, my living space, there will usually be a few that i come back to when i’m too tired or overwhelmed to keep track of everything else.

examples:

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when i’m in a discord server that i want to participate in more than in passing, i’ll usually start by camping out in one channel for a while and ignoring all the others. from there, once i’ve gotten to know people who frequent that channel, feel like they’ve gotten to know me, and feel like i’m Established there, i’ll start expanding out into other channels one or two at a time until i’m familiar with the whole server. it deadass took me half a year to branch out from the vent/mature topics channels in my current main server, and then it took months more for me to catch up to the whole server. if i don’t do it this way i’ll be overwhelmed, eventually get bored, and trip off my feeling-left-out-of-a-community sore spots.

(which is a Thing about using snake secondary to reach out and do new things. sometimes it’s a lot of fun to just go where i feel like and explore! but if a) there’s nothing i can really do without spending money i don’t have, b) i get the side-eye for being Poor and Socially Awkward and Doing Things Weird, c) i don’t happen to be into some anime fandom i don’t care about that everyone else does, and have had zero opportunity to get at least a little invested in it in order to connect with people, d) i get ignored because no one knows me or is invested in the things i contribute; or e) i just plain go past my limits because i didn’t realize going in how much energy i’d be expending on the thing... i get bored, fast. what’s the point? might as well just turn around and go home; at least it’s comfy.)

(badger secondary model?)

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i’m prone to homesickness. i’ve gotten a little better about it over the years, and after moving so many times in such short succession, but it’s really hard to let go of My Territory the more memories and familiarity i’ve built there. it’s super rough on me emotionally from anywhere to a few days to a couple weeks, and any time i think about it, but otherwise i adjust pretty fast to my new surroundings.

(the exception here is when i, well... avoid going out and exploring snake-style, because i don’t want to get attached and then deal with the grief of leaving it behind later on. housing instability trauma sucks, and i’m still struggling to figure out how to deal with that.)

part of that might be having stayed in one place for most of my growing up, but it’s like... pretty easy for me to designate a new place as a home base even if i still miss the old one? idk. even when i have nothing left there, i still think of everywhere i’ve intentionally planted my flag as One of My Places.

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it often takes me a long time to get comfortable with interacting with someone on a regular, friendly basis the closer the space i get to know them in. a lot of people who are now good friends of mine i had to build up my comfort levels with for years. there’s usually a moment of like... ‘oh okay this is our Friendship Unlocked Moment. the dam is broken,’ and even if we go long periods of time without talking a lot in private i don’t feel anxious and suffocated when we do. sometimes the Friendship Unlocked moment is one thing that happens all at once, and sometimes it’s several things over a long period of time until the scale tips for good. this is one reason i get cagey about initiating those friendship moments too directly sometimes, just because i know i might need to pull back and have space for a while again for the friendship to develop, and i don’t want to hurt people’s feelings.

weirdly enough, though, this process tends to be circumvented a lot the more distance there is between me and another person while i’m getting to know them? if i had gotten into the shc community by joining a server i would be way more shy, anxious, and wary, but when most of my potential-friendship-moments interactions with people take place on tumblr where it’s easier to get some space if i need to, it makes it way less uncomfortable and anxiety-inducing to point and go ‘friend! :D’ i’d probably be fine with exchanging discords with most of the people i’ve met on here at this point.

it’s like the difference between meeting people and making friends at a hobby group where you meet once a week, and making friends by having to invite them over to your house every day.

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i’m very much the kind of person who will stick close with the friend who invited me to a party, lmao, or if i’m tagging along on a trip but don’t want to be there (or don’t want to deal with the hassle of finding them again if i wander off). sometimes i’ll jump right into a new situation and start making friends, but i get anxiety pretty easily about making people feel snubbed or left out if i don’t have the time or energy to engage with everything, so often i’ll just fall back on one or two options i’m most familiar with and let everything else pass me by. i used to be the kind of kid/teenager who’d stick so close behind people on public outings that i’d constantly be bumping into them by accident. (once again, if i didn’t want to be there, wasn’t allowed to go do my own thing, or was--in hindsight--dissociating.)

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just... hm. thoughts? to me this sounds like either snakey, badgery rapidfire bird, or birdy, badgery snake who uses the other two to cover for social awkwardness/feelings of alienation/lack of time or energy/depression from my burned snake. or shit, maybe it’s badger all along, who knows.

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goldenclosetnetwork · 4 years

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23 | Jungkook’s Birthday Project

⥼ Golden Closet Net’s First Project! ⥽

In celebration of Jungkook’s birthday, GCN is hosting our very first project! In honor of our Golden Maknae turning 23, our project will be based on 23 Prompts and 23 AUs! You can write anything based off of the prompt(s) and AU(s) you choose.

Project Masterlist

⥼ Header & borders made by @mindays ♡

Project Rules:

Follow Golden Closet Network.

Reblog this post.

Must be 18+ to join.

You can sign up if you are a member of Golden Closet Net, or any of the Networks above that are affiliated with this Project!

You can choose up to 2 AUs and 2 Prompts (both don’t have to be from the same category).

You can sign up for up to two (2) fics, but send in separate forms for each.

You can change your AU(s) or Prompt(s) at any time, but please keep us updated through an ask, so we can update the Masterlist as well!

If you are signing up, you must have a discord to join our project server.

You can make your story multiple members x reader or member x member, but as this is a Jungkook network and a project for Jungkook, we ask that Jungkook be within the main pairing.

⥼ Sign Ups Are Closed ⥽

Tagging Your Project:

Golden Closet Net Members: #goldenclosetnet and #gcn23 | Please drop off your fic in the drop off channel in the project server. If you want to be apart of G.C.F, drop it off in the net’s server as well.

Other Net Members: #gcn23 | Please drop off your fic in the drop off channel in the project server.

Important: For everyone, also put in your fic format that it is apart of Golden Closet Net’s Jungkook Birthday Project!

Project Deadlines:

Sign-Ups are now closed!

Sign-Ups End: September 6th at 11:59 PM (pst)

Titles, Summary, Genre and Pairing Hand Ins: September 1st

Masterlist Teaser: September 1st

Posting Period: September 1st starting at 12 AM (pst) - October 1st ending at 11:59 PM (pst)

Masterlist Updated: October 2nd

⥼ AUs and Prompts will only be crossed out if we notice a large number of people are signing up with those AUs or Prompts! ⥽

23 AUs:

2 lovers (enemies, friends, or strangers)

alien au

arranged marriage au

bad boy au

brother’s bestfriend au

cowboy au

established relationship au

faerie au

fantasy au

frat boy au

fuck boy/girl au

greek mythology au

historical au

hybrid au

mafia au

parent au

pirate au

royalty au

sports au

soulmate au

superhero au

vampire au

werewolf/abo au

23 Fluff Prompts:

⥼ prompts credit: @mindays

"Everything makes sense when you’re by my side."

"I'd go anywhere for you, do anything for you."

"I want to have your last name!"

"You've always been beautiful to me, don't you know that?"

"When I'm with you everything makes sense."

"Stop pouting, it makes me want to kiss you."

"The moment you walked into the room, I knew you were the one."

"As long as we're together, nothing else matters."

"I never knew love could be like this, feel like this."

"I love making you laugh, love knowing I'm the one who made you laugh."

"I heard you say my name in your sleep last night."

"I'll kiss you right here, right now. I don't care who sees."

"I don't want to be away from you for even a second, please stay tonight."

"Stop making me want to hug you!"

"We're soulmates, aren't we?"

"I don’t care what they say, I’m in love with you."

"Can you please stop texting me cute selfies during work? It’s distracting."

"We were meant to be here, right here, right now."

"I didn't believe in love, not until I met you."

“I wanted to surprise you with my proposal, you weren’t supposed to find out!”

“Maybe we were lovers in a past life, because I feel like I’ve known you forever.”

“You're sick and I’m taking care of you and that’s final.”

“Nobody could ever take me away from you.”

23 Angst Prompts:

⥼ prompts credit: @daechwlta

“No one can keep us apart anymore. I promise.”

“You’d rather live a good life than a happy one with me?”

“Just say it, just once and we'll disappear as though we never existed.”

“I never wanted this to be our last goodbye.”

“I waited for you for so long, why now?”

“I’m sorry, I never meant it.”

“I’d rather lose everything else than lose you.”

“You’re leaving me?”

“Loving you is a risk I’m willing to take.”

“You’re a selfish, greedy, and arrogant person, and I hate you!”

“I never said that I don’t love you!”

“He/She/They was/were a good friend and will be missed.”

“Have some faith in me, would you?”

“I don’t trust you anymore!”

“No one is to blame but myself.”

“I never want to see you again!”

“I should have known.”

“Breaking up over texts? It doesn’t suit you.”

“Don’t be stupid, you’re in love.”

“I thought I was your soulmate.”

“If you would rather I go, then consider me gone.”

“What about your engagement?”

“There was nothing I could have done, I’m so sorry.”

23 Smut Prompts:

⥼ prompts credit: @mygsii & @pouty-promise

"You're staring. Like what you see?"

“You have no idea how much I want you.”

"I like when you do that, it makes me crazy."

"I can't get enough of you."

"Who do you belong to?"

"If you don’t change out of that outfit I’ll have it off before you get to the door."

"Oh, feisty today are we? That's okay, when I'm done with you you'll be in tears with how good I fuck you."

“You look good all soaking wet.”

“Such a needy little thing, aren’t you?”

"It's been too long, I need you."

"If you want to cum you’d better beg."

"With how loud you're being I'm sure everyone knows how well I'm pleasuring you."

"Were you touching yourself / pleasuring without permission?"

"Maybe if I punish you it’ll help you remember who you belong to next time."

"I advise you to watch your tongue baby. Remember it's me deciding if you get fucked today."

“What’s wrong? Not getting what you want?”

"Stop being a brat."

"Don't worry, I know a place where we won't be bothered."

"Keep quiet or someone will hear you."

"Don't be shy, say it louder."

"So, I heard you've been asking around about me."

"You shouldn't play with fire if you're scared to burn the city down."

"Last I checked, the devil didn't come knocking on people's doors dressed like that."

After signing up, an Admin will confirm your aus and prompts, and send you your Discord Invite! Please follow all the steps under Rules before signing up!

- GCN Admins

#gcn23 #gcnproject #projects #project official post

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ciaran-archive · 3 years

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I wanna thank you for that post about how people in fandom overestimate the impact and reach of fandom -- like, I've been getting increasingly anxious about how mainstream fandom is and all the policing of self-expression and the imposition of "acceptability" that seems to be creating and how, whenever horrible harassment in fandom is talked about by people not in fandom, they treat it really dismissively, but I'm now realising... most people probably just don't know the full extent of it.

Like that fear I have of interacting with people in fandom nowadays b/c of toxic discourse and my particular sensitivity to it b/c of PTSD... it's not that people are dismissive of that, it's just that these are social dynamics that are super obvious to me, and COMPLETELY incomprehensible and irrelevant to anyone who isn't in fandom. I'm not making a mountain out of a molehill when I'm not understood, we're just talking from super different viewpoints.

That may not seem like a big realisation but one of my big problems has been feeling like I have no allies in my "own" spaces within fandom, and having become super active in fandom originally b/c I felt very alienated from non-fandom spaces in the first place. Like, those weren't people who were ever gonna respect my feelings, so I embraced the stereotype of a weird loner. Realising that it's not malicious exclusion is pretty big for me.

[re this post]

im glad i could help!! that was a very sarcastic post, not really meant to help anyone so much as dunk on an annoying take i see far too fucking much of, but im still glad it alleviated some of your anxiety.

fwiw, it is hard to find your own people (in fandom or out of it). here are some things that i’ve done that help with that - not always, not even for very long, but enough that it’s worth doing.

make stuff!! making stuff is the easiest way of planting a flag over the things you like and drawing people to you. you can link your social media in the notes of your fic/art/meta, and thus draw people into talking to you.

have a continuous presence on social media. figure out where your fandom is active (usually twitter :/) and make an account and just. talk about the things you like. make threads. follow people who seem friendly. decide what you want to say, and say it, and encourage other people who are making the things you want to see.

if you have money, commission fanart and fanfiction! often when you commission an artist, especially on twitter, they let you post whatever you commissioned from them, which draws that activity to your account. use it to plug your fic or content like it.

discord servers!!! they’re my most preferred way of doing fandom. finding like 10-20 people who are into kind of the same stuff and chill (take a risk! moderating takes energy but it’s worth it for a space that’s fun to inhabit) is worth more than 500 twitter followers. (the way i did this in my last fandom was by joining a server for a ship i wasn’t into, and being dragged by the mod and her friend into making a more general fandom server, and when that blew up i dragged all the people i liked into my own server and invited more people i liked. you don’t have to go through such lengths, but joining other people’s servers and figuring out what kind of space you want to create by elimination and emulation is useful)

find fandom events and participate in them - a lot of big bang servers let you join as a cheerleader/beta reader if you can’t write or draw, and that’s a nice way to just talk to people.

understand that 90% of your interactions are going to go nowhere, and make your peace with temporary relationships and low-effort talking that fizzles out quickly. don’t invest in people who are clearly uninterested in you.

develop a firm sense of boundaries, what you’ll allow, and stick to that. don’t compromise on your boundaries, because you have to keep yourself safe first and foremost. a relationship with someone who violates your boundaries can be worse than no relationship at all.

another thing: fandom is more mainstream now than it used to be. that doesn’t mean it’s actually mainstream - fandom as a whole has a certain cultural weight, but our tastes as an audience rarely affect the kind of content that gets made - in fact, the most effect it has is on the kinds of articles that are written about the media being made. the attitudes of fandom are loosely monitored by some news companies, but that actually makes very little difference. the idea of fandom is more mainstream than fandom itself, and that’s going to be the case for a while. at least, as long the self-expression and sexuality of queer and neurodivergent people are marginalized, fandom will be too. corporate media hates anything that can’t be monetized, and fandom is always going to be made up primarily of people who just don’t have the spending money to be a demographic worth targeting specifically.

not only that, but most corporate efforts to cater to fandom fall hilariously short because rich people are really bad at understanding that you can’t just throw nostalgia and money together and create a good story. this is evident over and over.

but overall you’re right - most people outside of fandom just don’t get what’s going on, and explaining the particulars to them is incredibly difficult and often not worth it. that’s the case with most subcultures! imagine someone explaining 90s grunge scene drama to you now. the mutual unintelligibility of culture is fascinating and hilarious, and worth embracing. it can be frustrating and isolating and embarrassing, but that’s the case for anything that people put so much passion and time and love into, and it’s not a bad thing.

i hope that helps!! good luck.

#mine #fandom #asks #anon

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savnofilter · 4 years

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Official Callout Post (5 - Q&A)

TW: mentions of suicide, ephebophilia, grooming, pseudo racism (microaggression). toxic friendships, harassment towards minors, mental health, fandom discourse.

*DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT BECAUSE OF MY AGE OR SOCIAL MEDIA. THIS IS BECAUSE TOXICITY/TREATMENT. This post is not just minors. This is for the people from different ages 16-22 who feel like they did not have a voice by fellow BNHA writers.*

Important Topics:

Clearing last statements

Addressing my callouts

Alienated mental health

Fic stealing

BNHarem server regulation

Where is the proof that there are people not speaking up?

*10

*11

*12

*13

What’s wrong with aging up?

@mci-writing: There isn’t a problem with aging up in specific, but rather how you go about aging up the characters, especially in NSFW pieces. If you’re going to age the characters up, make it apparent that the characters are aged up rather than just slapping the 18+ label, whether it be in an offhand mention of living in a house of their own or maybe something small about being in college if dorms are such an integral part to the work in question.

“If the minors knew it was an 18+ space, why did they join?”

@mci-writing: Their server is a 16+ server, so they were invited and welcomed once they proved their ages. Many minors that joined their server saw it as an opportunity to meet new people and make friends, all while being able to interact with their favorite writers in the fandom.

If the discord discussion wasn't about harassing Lady-bakuhoe, why did it happen?

@mci-writing: The first discussion quite literally was a couple of people active in the fandom, mainly writers, venting about how hard it is to currently get your works out there and just how hard it is to properly get involved in the fandom without some form of help from a clique. No one in specific was named that time. The other discussion was Sav venting about how she was treated after a whack ass callout post was made and simply because a writer was mad that Sav ran her server the way Sav wanted to, which led to her elaborating on the situation (it then prompted other people’s responses, whose responses are fairly similar to how many of you reacted to Jo’s small “callout”).

What legal offences have they done if charged?

@savnofilter: Well since you guys like supporting people you think should be in jail, considering Lady-Bakuhoe has shared a minor’s face and age, the offense would be up to the parents in question. It's stated in laws that even if the minor is a felon, you do not have the rights to share such information without law/parent consent. Although I cannot find anything about age, sharing a minor's face comes with consequences.

- UK source: 1

- US source: 1

Charges will be:

Lawsuit: exposing minor information without parental consent.

*****

To put in perspective, the U.S and UK are basically flip flopped. In the U.S it is not against the law to groom, but in the UK it is. It is illegal to have relationships with minors in the U.S, while in the UK it is not.

For knowingly engaging sexually with a minor (DMs), you can also be trialed for having depictions of any picture/video of minors. (ex: students in school uniforms) or minors in sexual situations. Although having a sexual relationship with a 16 year-olds is permitted, consuming child pornography is not. Grooming is also outside of sexual abuse, you can groom anyone for any reason.

- UK source: 1

- US source: 1

Charges will be:

Misdemeanor: for knowingly engaging NSFW with minors, causing mental anguish.

Felony: for knowingly engaging NSFW with minors, causing mental anguish.

2 Years Prison: sexting any sort of NSFW content to a minor.

Registered Sex Offender: engaging sexually with minors (U.S).

*****

For the acts of gaslighting, you can be sentenced if proven with evidence.

- UK source: 1, 2

- U.S source: 1, 2, 3

Charges will be:

Misdemeanor: causing mental anguish, this is categorized as mental abuse.

Felony: causing mental anguish, this is categorized as mental abuse.

*****

Sharing false and hurtful posts about someone with intention to hurt someone's image constitutes cyberbullying. This includes false posts to make someone look bad and sending hate (whether you directed it or not).

For perspective, once again it is flip-flopped. The U.S has many states so there are not any direct laws against cyberbullying (in my state and my friends it is illegal), but you can categorize abusive behaviors exhibited online as a form of abuse. In the U.K it is illegal, grooming is considered being one of the offenses.

LBH and or any adult who participated in posting, sending hate, or anything that repeatedly tore our image down would be classified as a Verbal Adult Bully.

UK source: link

U.S source: link

Charges will be:

Lawsuit: defamation of character, harassment.

Misdemeanor: harassment, abuse.

1-2 years jail or fine: harassment, intimidation, or bullying.

12 months jail or fine: classified as stalking.

*****

You can categorize abusive behaviors exhibited online as a form of abuse. In the U.K it is illegal, grooming is considered being one of the offenses.

- UK source: link

- U.S source: link

Charges will be:

Lawsuit: defamation of character, harassment.

Misdemeanor: harassment, abuse.

1-2 years jail or fine: harassment, intimidation, or bullying.

12 months jail or fine: classified as stalking.

*****

Since you only promote 18+ blogs in your 16+ server, the people who run/host the server will be trialed for exposing minors to NSFW

UK source: link

U.S source: link

Charges will be:

Misdemeanor: exposing a minor to pornographic content.

Third degree felony: exposing a minor to pornographic content.

1-15 years jail: exposing a minor to pornographic content.

Fine: $1,000 - $10,000

Don't you (minors) know it's illegal to consume and produce erotica?

@savnofilter: As long as we (minors) don't go as far to engage (message privately) sexually with people who are 18+, it’s not illegal. Reblogging or commenting on a work both ways isn't illegal either 1, 2. It’s only illegal if you approach minors and send it to them personally. If it was illegal, porn websites wouldn’t even exist. If you’re concerned about minors reading your stuff, don’t put them in main tags.

Can't the person producing the content get arrested?

@savnofilter: To put it simply: No. You will not go to jail if a minor reads your smut. With the other way around, you won't go to jail reading a minor's smut either. The laws state that you can only go to jail if you send porn (video, art, pictures) to a minor or produce depictions of a minor in sexual acts.

Therefore if you do not approach a minor with such contents, you will not be trialed. If this was the case, there wouldn't be platforms such as PornHub and etc would not be able to run.

Do you have a problem with them writing the content that they do?

@savnofilter: No. If we did it would be hypocritical. It’s more of the personal jabs to alienate teens feel in the writing community. This means having to go out your way saying stuff like “fuck minors” “minors are stupid”. People like to shove down our throats that we want to go into “adult spaces”. Tumblr is an open site for 13+, the anime being a Shounen anime. Again, if you don’t want minors interacting with your stuff, keep it out of main tags.

What do we want from this post?

The main reason why I even decided to speak up is because I was tired of always talking about how toxic it is here and always being accused of starting drama to shut me up. Sure, call it “bitching” and “whining” but why should I take bullying because I have less followers and half someone’s age?

The double-standard that I’ve touched upon in CCC or even how small blogs are treated. Fandom is supposed to be fun, and it’s not okay to let things slide just to keep things “happy”. Stop intimidating and shutting down people who finally have a choice to talk about the things they have been through just because your favorite says so. Don’t campaign about listening to hurt peoples voices, then proceed to ignore and ridicule people who do it in your own environment.

I’ve had people come into my inbox and mock me for admitting to being mentally ill and say I’m doing this because I’m sick in the head, or call me a liar only because I spoke up. The BNHA fandom needs to stop the popularity mob mentality. Before you blindly someone, think to yourself: why? Stop giving toxic people passes because there is always a high chance in them not even caring about you. Don’t be a sheep, think for yourself. That’s what I want from this post. Even if people don’t believe me now, you can’t say I didn’t warn you.

Here is what a few of our members have had to say:

Continuation here: main post, one, two, three, four, ▸five◂.

#callout #tw grooming #tw toxic people #lady-bakuhoe #fandom discourse

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ladymalstroem · 7 years

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On Bioware games and female players

Expanding on that last bioware post regarding Anthem being a co-op game.

One big aspect of this whole thing that I sadly think is going to be neglected in the more mainstream gaming press is how this potentially affects the female playerbase. Keep in mind that the following is based on anecdotes and personal observations, but this is just a blog post on tumblr, so take it with a grain of salt I guess. Under a cut because holy shit this got long.

I’ve been on Tumblr since 2011, and it’s become very clear to me that Bioware games are hugely popular with women. We’re not the core audience (only about 18% played female Shepard in the ME trilogy), but we’re a significant part of it. I’ve seen several women of all ages initially get into gaming through Bioware, from teenagers to mothers in their 40′s and 50′s. In a male dominated industry and community where gameplay skill and owning the hardware is required to take part, in order to get women to play your game it is crucial that you actively invite them. David Gaider’s GDC talk from a few years back is a great take on how Bioware did so through narrative and design choices. Something as simple as letting you play as a woman goes a long way, and then expanding upon it like bioware has done (through letting you play as different sexualities with different romance options, letting you customize your appearance, having storylines that focus on characters and interpersonal problems in a fantasy or sci-fi setting, etc) makes the invitation even clearer.

Added to that, while old-school tactical RPGs may have felt inaccessible to new players, the more stripped down cinematic action-RPG genre that Bioware developed with their newer titles is forgiving enough for someone who hasn’t built up decades of gaming literacy, something that often applies to women as we’ve historically been excluded from the gaming community as a whole.

The third aspect of this is the single player focus. Single player allows you to play at your own pace and learn as you go. You can explore the mechanics and story as much or as little as you like, you can prioritize the things that interest you and ignore the things that don’t. You never have an obligation to anyone else to perform well or keep up the pace. The gaming community has long had a problem with how female players are treated, and many women prefer to stay completely away from multiplayer for this reason. Even in MP games that make an effort to invite us, like Overwatch, you constantly see women who are afraid to talk in comms because they don’t want to be harassed. I’ve been in a pretty big discord server for female gamers for a while now, and you see this sentiment all the time. Statistically we have less experience, and therefore less confidence in our abilities. Even though many women enjoy MP and will play it often, many consider SP to be a less stressfull experience, somewhere they can escape to and play safely in.

For me, as an ESL kid growing up, I didn’t realise how powerful a story-driven game could be until I became a little older and learned english. I had my fun with games before that, but it was when I picked up Jade Empire at 13 that I really got spellbound by a game from the first time. I was lucky, in that I had a dad and older brother who introduced me to games and were supportive of me pursuing it as a hobby. A lot of women come into it later, because they never had something like that growing up, back when games were exclusively marketed towards boys.

Bioware has been a unique voice in the AAA industry in terms of representing women, LGBT people and people of color. They’ve had to face a lot of bullshit accusations for it, and sometimes their effort to please hasn’t resulted in the best situations, but nonetheless their games resonate strongly with women. Women are largely the ones taking active part in the creative fandom, the ones who spend countless hours writing fanfic and drawing fanart for the games, coordinating community events, the ones who will replay the games over and over because there are no other experiences out there like them.

This isn’t to say that women won’t enjoy Anthem, or are too frail to seek out experiences where we’re not the target audience, but many of us have a deep attatchment to the kind of specific character-driven single player RPGs that Bioware is known for. With Mass Effect on ice and the Montreal team severely downsized, that’s one of their SP franchises down. We can’t know for certain anymore that Bioware will continue to produce the kind of SP experiences that gained them its large female fanbase in the first place.

Anthem being a multiplayer game may alienate a lot of RPG fans, not just women. But women may have even more reason to feel like they’re losing something important to them, given Bioware’s role in introducing so many of us to gaming in the first place, telling us that our preferences and tastes matter in an industry where we’re often ridiculed and ignored. Maybe Bioware wants to move in a different direction genre-wise, or maybe EA wants some of that Destiny cash, and none of us really have a right to say that they can’t do what they want. But the fact that so many are speaking up in near mourning over this is a testament to how invested we are in Bioware’s games. We can find similar games in the indie scene, of course. But that still puts us on the fringes of the bigger gaming industry, whereas Bioware as a triple-A developer would typically put us and our wishes front and centre, without shame or judgement. They made massive progress in including us as a wanted and respected demographic in gaming, but this shift towards multiplayer feels like they, as so many other developers, are now going for the common denominator audience to make some long term money instead of continuing in their carefully built up niche.

I hope Anthem turns out to be good because I don’t want Bioware to downsize even more. I’ll be watching the development with cautious optimism, because I might be totally wrong about the game’s focus and story (and I really hope I am). These are just my thoughts after having seen what little there is of Anthem so far.

#bioware #mass effect #anthem

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